Green Landscapes in the European City, 1750–2010 Routledge Studies in Modern European History Series

Green space is a fundamental concept for understanding modern and contemporary urban society, shedding light not only on the ecological development of cities but also societal relations, urban governance and planning processes. Closely linked to issues of environmental change, changing perceptions of nature, urban well-being and social integration, as well as city economic competitiveness and branding, it is an important element both in the internationalisation of European cities, and the forging of their distinctive communal identities.

Building upon recent research on the history of green landscapes in the city in Europe and North America, this volume mirrors the burgeoning global attention to urban green space developments from city policy-makers and planners, architects, climatologists, ecologists, geographers and other social scientists. Taking case studies from Paris, London, Berlin, Helsinki, and other leading centres, the volume examines when, why, and how green landscapes evolved in major cities, and the extent to which they have been shaped by shared external forces as well as by distinctive and specific local needs. Quantifying green space trends in this way raises important issues of classification and categorisation of the different varieties of urban green space. While urban parks have received considerable coverage, many other smaller, less prestigious, spaces have been largely ignored. This volume argues that green landscapes can only be properly understood when the full range of spaces from parks to recreation grounds, housing areas, allotments and domestic gardens is taken into account. Adopting a broader approach to urban green space helps put European developments during the 19th and 20th centuries into a global perspective.

List of Illustrations

Notes on Contributors

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

Peter Clark

City Trends

2 Vegetation and Green Spaces in Paris: A Spatial Approach

Jean Luc Pinol

3 London’s Green Spaces in the Late Twentieth Century – The Rise and Decline of Municipal Policies

Matti O. Hannikainen

4 Outdoor Recreation and Green Space in Helsinki and Dublin, c. 1965 – 1985: A Transnational Comparison

Suvi Talja

Varieties of Green Space

5Impacts of Residential Infilling on Private Gardens in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Anna Ojala, Jari Niemelä, and Vesa Yli-Pelkonen

6The Right to the Garden: Allotments and the Politics of Urban Green Space in Sweden

Jennifer Mack and Justin Scherma Parscher

7 Green Space in Socialist and Post-socialist Zagreb

Valentina Gulin Zrnić

8 ‘In Antwerp, the Birds Cough in the Morning’: Green Space Activism in a Time of Urban Flight: The Case of Post-War Antwerp

Bart Tritsmans

Interactions

9 The Urban Politics of Nature: Two Centuries of Green Spaces in Berlin 1800–2014

Dorothee Brantz

10 Immigrants and Green Space in the Helsinki Region

Niko Lipsanen

11 Women Landscape Planners and Green Space: Sweden 1930–1970

Catharina Nolin

12 Urban Green Space in a Globalising World

Peter Clark

13 Epilogue: How Green is Your City? Transnational and Local Perspectives on Urban Green Spaces

Marjaana Niemi

Index

Peter Clark, Emeritus Professor of European Urban History, University of Helsinki, Finland and Visiting Professor, University of Leicester, UK.

Marjaana Niemi, Professor of History, University of Tampere, Finland.

Catharina Nolin, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Stockholm, Sweden.